A matchup between two strong offences in the mile high city of Denver. With the two chuckers taking the hill being Jeff Locke and Chad Bettis, there should be no shortage of runs with the long ball coming into play more than usual in the thin air.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Jeff Locke is in serious trouble of losing his rotation spot, with top prospect Tyler Glasnow biding his time in the minors but appearing ready for the next step.

Other top pitching prospect, Jameson Taillon, was recalled for yesterday’s start and should the Pirates choose to keep Juan Nicasio in the rotation, Taillon may also steak claim to Locke’s current spot.

On the year, Locke has a 4.28 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP with a 5-3 record, but with just a 35:24 K/BB ratio.

The Pirates offense is loaded with talent, with the likes of Gregory Polanco, Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, Jung Ho Kang, Josh Harrison and David Freese. The Bucs rank 6th in Runs with 283, 2nd in average with .277 collectively and 7th in RBI with 270.

They should be able to add to their homerun total at Coors, facing a poor pitcher in Chad Bettis and his 1.44 WHIP and 5.58 ERA.

Colorado Rockies

The Rockies offense has produced some nice surprises, be it Charlie Blackmon last year or Trevor Story this season.

Signee Gerardo Parra hasn’t produced as many projected with the move to Coors, but Colorado has also not played as many games at home (just 25) as most other teams and it should be beneficial going forward.

Carlos Gonzalez is following up his resurgent season last year with another fine one in 2016 with a .302 average and 13 HR and Nolan Arenado is an early season MVP candidate with 18 HR and 49 RBI, both which lead the NL.

Chad Bettis is a poor starting pitcher, as evidenced in his 5.58 ERA and 1.44 WHIP and the Home/Road splits aren’t really telling of a big Coors Field effect to blame.

He holds a 5.70 ERA at home with a 1-2 record this year and a .309 BA against allowed, and it’s easy to see how that may increase after facing the Pittsburgh offense at Coors in this start.

MLB Baseball Betting Trends:

The Pirates are 14-15 on the road in 2016

New Bucs are 4-6 in their past 10 games

Chad Bettis has allowed at least 4 earned runs in his past 3 starts at Coors Field

the Rockies are 2-8 in their past 10

Colorado has hit 36 HR in 25 Games at Coors this year

Free Pittsburgh Pirates vs Colorado Rockies MLB Prediction:

Two poor pitchers facing two vaunted offenses at Coors Field? Yeah, I’ll take the over in this one every time.

4* Free MLB Betting Pick: Over 11.5

I expect a ton of runs in this game, and like the over even with the line being set at 11.

MLB Free Score Prediction: Pittsburgh 8 – 6

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About Alex McPhee

New to Cappers Picks but NOT new to making free sports predictions. An avid sports better with some solid success, Alex is a former high level athlete in multiple sports and has been a sports writer in the past with multiple sites before we roped him into sharing his free picks on our site. He’s been a hockey scout, coach, manager and played baseball at an elite level until he went to University. Combine that with prior experience playing poker for a living, his intuition might be picks that you want to follow! Good luck.